Mission Decoration
by alolha123
Summary: Entry for Serenity Silence's oneshot contest. Hyuuga Neji does not fear many things, except for the Dranked missions Gai has them do every Christmas Eve. Oneshot, NejiTen Christmas fic.


Mission Decoration

By alolha123

Notes: Here's an entry for Serenity Silence's (or Namida's?) NejiTenten and/or KibaHinata oneshot. I'm doing the NejiTenten oneshot, if you haven't noticed already.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does, and I own nada.

---

Hyuuga Neji was not scared of many things. No amount of spiders could make him shudder. No gruesome picture could make him flinch. No blood could stop him from continuing on.

But one thing, or rather, _date_, could frighten him _stiff_, though he didn't always show it.

December 24. Christmas Eve.

The worst date of the year.

It was a ritual, actually; Gai, in his usual exuberant manner, would rant - at the top of his lungs, to Neji's and Tenten's embarassment - that Christmas was the time of youth. Lee, of course, would agree immediately, for he would never imagine disagreeing with his idol.

But Neji and Tenten would shake their heads in dismay, knowing they were in for something and there would not be a good outcome.

And Gai would then take a D-ranked mission.

_D_-ranked.

Tenten seemed to bear it better than him; she was optimistic, he admitted. Neji couldn't figure out how she bore their sensei and teammate's antics. The brown-haired kunoichi always smiled, even when she was defeated in battle. He managed their insanity in a different manner, opting instead to defeat Lee to a sound pulp.

This new mission was strange and foreign to him; in fact, it seemed nothing like one. Gai and Lee had shouted their delight, and Tenten had just smiled, but he, Hyuuga Neji, had said nothing.

And in fact, he would have refused the ridiculous mission if Tenten hadn't begged him to.

"Come on, Neji," she had pleaded desperately, "It'll be fun!"

"_Fun_?" he had snorted. This was a mission, and missions were not supposed to be _fun_.

Tenten had pouted. And even though she didn't know it, Neji's sole weakness was Tenten's pout.

So he had agreed.

And was now stuck in the worst position of his life.

-

"Higher, Neji!" Tenten grinned, wailing her arms about, trying to catch her balance.

Neji grumbled. Why, again, was this lady's tree so tall?

The mission was supposed to be simple. D-ranked, actually. An old woman had called in and asked for a group of "strong, reliable shinobi who have an eye for decorations." She, in fact, needed someone to decorate her house, as her bones were not as strong as in the previous years. And since none of the rookie teams were around to answer to the call, Team Gai had taken it, because their sensei had insisted taking missions on Christmas Eve was "youthful."

They took one every year, on that same date; last year, it had been painting boards for a play. The year before that, they had actually been requested to _act_ in a play.

Needless to say, it had never really ended well for Neji.

_Ouch!_

Neji bit his lip to prevent himself from crying out in pain as Tenten, who was crouching on top of the miserable boy, leaning to place a golden star on the tree top, slammed her foot onto Neji's shoulder in an attempt to balance her footage.

"Tenten," Neji managed to gasp out between rough breaths, "You aren't, by _any_ chance, carrying your weapons at the moment, are you?" He didn't understand why he was so tired. Even the Kaiten didn't take _nearly_ as much energy as this.

Tenten glared at her teammate. He did have to ruin the mood, didn't he? "Just be quiet, Neji," she growled.

The Hyuuga rolled his eyes, an act which did not go unnoticed by a certain weapons specialist kunoichi. "It's for _protection_!" she insisted, but Neji gave a small snort.

"Of course, protection on a _D-ranked mission_."

Tenten glared again, but thankfully did not fuel the growing argument any more. A few silent, rather un-Christmasy moments passed.

And that was when Gai and Lee chose to make their appearance.

"AAHH! THERE IS NO YOUTH IN _FROWNING_, NEJI AND TENTEN!"

Neji gave his trademark glare while Tenten sighed. Their hopeless sensei and just-as-hopeless teammate had upgraded their ridiculous and embarassing outfits. The spandexes were still green, though displacing the orange legwarmers were some red legwarmers.

_Bright red_ legwarmers.

With _flashing lights_ on the side.

"DO NOT BE SAD, MY RIVAL! IF I DO NOT MAKE YOU HAPPY BY THE END OF THIS MISSION, I WILL RUN 500 LAPS AROUND KONOHA BEFORE-"

"Lee."

"Yosh! My rival-"

"...Your youth will be tainted if you shout like that again."

Lee's eyes suddenly widened in shock and horror, then clapped his hands over his mouth. Hurriedly, he and Gai rushed from the room to do whatever they had planned next.

Neji shook his head. Two _very_ hopeless cases. Turning his attention to the kunoichi leaning on top of him, he asked, "Tenten. Do you almost have the star on top yet?"

"Not yet, Neji... Just a bit more... Keep holding..."

He sighed. "Hn."

"...There! I got it on!... Uh - AAH!"

Neji and Tenten crashed to the ground. Tenten grinned sheepishly.

"Heh... Gomen?"

This mission was so darn annoying.

-

"String them here, Neji!"

The Hyuuga led a long wire of Christmas lightbulbs along the side of the roof.

"No, Neji! You're doing it all wrong. Over here, not there!"

He sighed. "...Is this good?"

"No! Over there, not over here!"

Neji crushed one of the lightbulbs in his fist.

"..." Tenten blinked. She hadn't expected that reaction. "...I-If you want," she stuttered, "W-We can do s-something else..."

"Hn."

Or in Neji speak, _"Yes."_

-

"Mmm..." Tenten licked her frosted fingers.

Neji blinked. Here his teammate was, making full use of the supplies the gingerbread house came with. "You know," he said, rolling his sleeves up to his elbows, "We're supposed to be _decorating_ this gingerbread house, not _eating_ it."

"I know," Tenten replied carelessly, "But gingerbread houses are always fun to eat while making."

"Eat while making?" Neji asked incredulously. "Isn't that...well, _pointless_?" Tenten glared at him. "If you eat it, there is no _point_ to making it," he snatched a chocolate from Tenten, who was about to unwrap it. "_Especially_ if you're eating the supplies."

"But Nejiiii..." the brown-haired kunoichi whined, "They're my favorite kind..."

"We are being paid to _help_ Regata-san, not _eat_ her _supplies_." Neji stated firmly.

Tenten gave him a light punch. "It's only a few..."

"Hn. Stop giving into your sweet tooth."

"Well, excuse me if I can't! It's not my fault I have one!"

"..."

"Stop looking at me like that!"

"... Whatever. Let's just finish decorating this gingerbread house."

Neji handed Tenten a bag of frosting. "What am I supposed to do with this?" Tenten asked, poking the bag.

"Read the text." _Duh._

Tenten took a deep breath. "MoJo's EasyPrepare Frosting Bag is a fun, easy way of decorating-"

"Skip to the instructions." Neji laid the many pieces of gingerbread out in front of him. Organized items made everything a lot easier.

"Fine, sheesh... Knead the frosting in the bag between two hands. Cut a half-inch hole at the pointy end of the bag. Squeeze onto gingerbread house. Wait for an hour to dry." Tenten finished, then blinked. "That's it?"

Neji shrugged. "It _did_ say EasyPrepare."

"Okay, then, let's decorate!"

The Hyuuga grabbed Tenten's hands just as she was about to grab a bag of sweets. "Wash your hands first," he instructed. "You were licking them a few moments ago."

Tenten glared at Neji. "Fine, _mother_." She stormed off to the kitchen.

Neji smirked. Maybe this wasn't so bad.

-

Two and a half hours, four bags of frosting, seventeen bags of candy, five crushed lightbulbs and three shattered ornaments later, Team Gai walks out of their client's house. Gai and Lee, the two spandex-wearing people on the team, chattered incessantly about how nice Regata-san was, how they could string the Christmas tree in fifteen seconds flat with only a few broken ornaments, and whatever they could think of. Neji and Tenten fell back, not wishing to hear their blabbering.

"Neji?"

"Hn?"

"See? Wasn't that fun?"

"...I still prefer C-ranked missions over this."

"But you liked it, right?"

"Hn..."

"Stop dodging the question! Did you like it or not?"

"Neji. Answer. _Now_."

"...Whatever, it was okay."

Tenten grinned in victory.

Neji cast a nervous glance at his teammate. He knew that smile. That darn mischevious smile of hers...

"So..." she started.

He gulped.

"You wouldn't mind doing it again, at my house, would you?"

_Darn._

-Owari-

Hope you like it, NejiTen lovers.

alolha123


End file.
